New Delhi, September 21
Two large Naxal-affected forested areas in Jharkhand and Bihar have been “completely cleaned off and captured” by the security forces even as the most violence-prone districts under this category have gone down to an all-time low of 25, CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh said on Wednesday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah later tweeted to say that a “historic milestone was crossed” in the internal security domain of the country with this development.
The CRPF chief told reporters during a press conference here that the ‘Budapahad’ area in Garhwa district of Jharkhand and the ‘Chakrabandha’ jungle area scattered across Gaya and Aurangabad districts of Bihar have been freed from Naxals after joint security forces, under the overall command of the paramilitary force, mounted three special operations beginning April.
He said Bihar is now free from the Naxal menace and the forces can reach any place in either of the two states.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is designated as the lead anti-Naxal operations force of the country and it has deployed close to a lakh troops for this task in about 10 states.
A total of 14 Maoists were killed while 590 were either apprehended or had surrendered during these operations, launched in the two states along with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The ‘Budapahad’ and ‘Chakrabandha’ areas have been completely captured, completely cleaned by the security forces and we have created bases and a huge number of personnel are camping here now. Day before yesterday, we landed a helicopter in the ‘Budapahad’ area too, Singh said.
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